Manufacturing or sourcing products from an overseas entity can have profoundly beneficial effects on your margins. The problem, however, is ensuring the quality of the items you’re receiving.

People who have been running an Amazon FBA business for some time already know that Chinese manufacturers and wholesalers face problems when it comes to the consistent and continuous maintenance of production quality.

You, however, are on another continent or far away from China. What does it take to do supplier quality control before the boxes arrive and you find out that the inventory is subpar at best? There are things you can do to ensure good production characteristics and stable partnerships with the right manufacturers and Chinese wholesale suppliers.

Give Your Supplier as Much Information as Possible

If you want your suppliers to give you exactly what you’re looking for, you have to be precise and descriptive enough in your communication.

In other words, you have to tell your Chinese wholesale suppliers exactly what you’re looking for if you want to get an item that meets your requirements.

To make your enquiries specific enough, feature the following information:

  • A brief overview of who you are and what you’re trying to accomplish via business establishment
  • Who the product is for
  • What problem the audience faces that the product can resolve
  • What the most important product features are
  • Requirements in terms of the materials that the product is made of
  • Customization requirements to modify a generic product
  • Your need for the product to be tested before it arrives

Remember that you’re communicating with people from another country. Thus, language barriers will always come between you (even in the era of Google translate). Make your product spec enquiry concrete but simple.

You should also make yourself available for follow-up communication in the event of certain aspects of your product request remaining unclear.

Request a Sample

Asking for a sample or a prototype is the next important step when attempting to do supplier quality control.

If the product already exists and no customization is required, you can simply purchase one item from China and make sure its quality is good enough before you even contact Chinese wholesale suppliers for your Amazon FBA business or your Shopify ecommerce website.

This, however, is just one option and it’s not always viable or financially-sound. Chinese manufacturers are used to sample requests. It’s a normal part of the process and most will be willing to work with you.

When getting started, you should know that several kinds of samples exist and can be requested:

  • Factory samples for ready-made products that are divided in:
    • Material samples (what will be used in the production, quality, color and texture of the material)
    • Standardized parts
    • Samples manufactured for other companies
  • Custom-made product samples created especially for you
  • Batch samples: several items from the same batch you can use to test consistency and functionality
  • Digital samples: 3D models, renderings, graphs, sketches, diagrams

Be very precise in terms of the type of sample you want to get. Communicate the conditions with your potential supplier and make sure that you’ve discussed the following aspects of the sample request:

  • The deadline for having the sample shipped
  • The address you want the sample to arrive at
  • Whether you need a model and company number tag (to differentiate between the samples you receive)
  • Indication whether you need a working sample you will be testing or just a product prototype

It would be best to send this information by email and to have a quick video chat soon after to confirm all aspects of the interaction. Having a talk with your potential supplier will be great to answer some questions and to get a better feel of their work/communication style.

Supplier Quality Control: Communicate the Issues You Face in Detail

Even if you’re very specific, there’s still some risk of the interaction going wrong.

Whenever products don’t meet your specifications or are defective, you will have to communicate that information with your Chinese wholesale suppliers.

The easiest thing to do is to take a picture of the item and describe exactly what’s wrong with it and why the quality isn’t exactly what you’re looking for.

It’s very important to communicate that information after you receive a sample. If you order a larger batch and all of the items come with the same issue, you’ll find it a lot more difficult to contain the problem without suffering losses.

Should You Go to China? How Do You Ensure Consistent Supplier Quality Control?

The fact that a sample meets all of your Amazon FBA business requirements does not mean all the batches you receive in the future will be manufactured to the same high standards.

If you want to build a successful ecommerce business, you have to come up with a way to make sure every single piece your clients receive is good enough.

There are several ways to accomplish the task when working with Chinese wholesale suppliers.

When using Alibaba to find suppliers, opt for the entities that have trade assurance. Trade assurance is a service offered by the platform to give buyers payment protection if the items aren’t shipped according to contract specifications or if they do not meet quality requirements.

You can also look for secure payment suppliers.

Through the secure payment service, Alibaba holds the payment to the supplier while the shipment is being processed and delivered. Once both the supplier and the recipient confirm that the transaction is completed, the payment is going to be released.

As you can see Alibaba does have some effective tools in place to facility supplier quality control.

A final option you may want to consider is the services of a sourcing agent.

The sourcing agent is a regional representative that deals with important activities on behalf of their client. This is a service that eliminates the need for you to travel overseas. If you come across a reputable service provider, you’ll have peace of mind that your requirements are being adhered to during the manufacturing or sourcing processes.

Benefiting from a sourcing agent will obviously be linked to additional expenses. This is a choice for entrepreneurs who are serious about growing an ecommerce business. The good news is that many entities offer such services. Get a couple of quotes and inquire about the fee structure. Sourcing agents may charge in very different ways and it’s essential to find out whether hidden commissions or fees exist.

The Importance of Quality for Your Amazon FBA Business

There are so many Shopify ecommerce websites and Amazon FBA businesses out there that you have to work really hard in order to differentiate your project from the competition.

Accomplishing the goal is heavily dependent on the quality you give your clients. If you cannot ensure consistency and great products every single time, chances are that your customers will start looking for solutions elsewhere.

Supplier quality control necessitates a strategy, clearly-defined goals and effective communication with overseas entities.

Remember that the relationship between you and your potential Chinese suppliers is mutually-beneficial. It’s in the best interest of manufacturers and wholesalers to meet your requirements. For the purpose, you have to be very specific and concrete in stating your needs. If you streamline the process and state your specific needs, chances are that you’ll soon get to establish partnerships with Chinese entities that understand your business and have similar work ethics.